Life of a King is the unlikely true story of Eugene Brown and his one-man mission to give inner-city kids of Washington D.C. something he never had - a future. He discovered a multitude of life lessons through the game of chess during his 18-year incarceration for bank robbery. After his release and reentry into the workforce, Eugene developed and founded the Big Chair Chess Club to get kids off the streets and working towards lives they never believed they were capable of due to circumstances. From his daring introductory chess lessons to group of unruly high school students in detention to the development of the Club and the teens' first local chess competitions, this movie reveals his difficult, inspirational journey and how he changed the lives of a group of teens with no endgame.

The f4 Sicilian has become popular and feared because it avoids the frightening amount of knowledge required to play Open Sicilians. It is often not treated with the respect it deserves. The strategic aims are quite simple to understand: CHECKMATE. The first edition was written when the Grand Prix Attack was just becoming noticed by strong chess players. Now there are over 20,000 examples in the databases. Nevertheless, the opening remains based more on the ideas explained by authors Hodgson and Day than on “theory”.

This DVD consists of studying the strategic game, while acting as a guide for learning how Super GMs dominate positional chess. Over the course of these videos you will see master games explained in-depth by GM Lemos, placing emphasis on every move, explaining the motive and the distinct reasoning and thinking that causes GMs to make certain decisions.

Wilhelm Steinitz was an Austrian and then American chess player and the first undisputed world chess champion from 1886 to 1894. One of the most dominant players in the history of the game, Steinitz was unbeaten in over 25 years of match play.

This book, written by the hugely popular chess writer Andrew Soltis, is the only one that will help you up your game. He explains if you should exchange your bishop for a knight, which pair of bishops to exchange, when it's important to keep rooks on the board, and when to refuse any trade.

In this instructive and entertaining book, Grandmaster Neil McDonald studies in depth the key components of successful rule-breaking in chess. Drawing upon his own experience and using examples from modern grandmaster chess, McDonald examines how to avoid stereotypical thinking, how to exploit typical thinking patterns, and how to confuse and beat opponents with surprising ideas.

Here IM Paschall analyzes his own games and all of the factors that played into the game progression. While walking through the games Bill gives you tools to build your own game analysis skills to study your own games and learn from them.

We have all seen games – and perhaps even played them – in which a difficult or lost game is salvaged by a brilliant drawing combination. In the early 1970s, Soviet International Master Leonid Verkhovsky collected some of the most fantastic draws ever played.

The First volume of Ludek Pachman's great trilogy Complete Chess Strategy which first appeared in Czechoslovak and German. Planning the Pieces deals with the long term planning, handling and positioning of the individual chess pieces.

Many chess players act intimidated and overly cautious when they have the Black pieces. They are so preoccupied with White’s advantage of the first move, that their predominant urge is to defend against possible threats and to safeguard their position. Adorjan shows that White’s advantage is far from obvious and that winning with Black starts with having the right attitude.This book will convince both club players and professionals that there is no reason to be afraid when playing Black.

There's no escaping the fact: if you want to win chess games, you have to attack at some point. Many players are happy solving combinations in winning positions, when the hard work is already done, but the key to a successful attack undoubtedly comes much earlier. No-one can attack effectively if they haven't prepared properly, and yet planning in chess can be a difficult technique to master, even for experienced players.

Understanding how to use pawns and how to handle different pawn structures are important topics for young or improving players to consider. On this new ChessBase DVD, IM and FIDE Senior Trainer Andrew Martin investigates the notion that ‘pawns are the soul of chess’ and tries to explain exactly what this means. The effective use of pawns in the opening leads to the correct development of the pieces and a good game springs naturally from there. The pawn structure must be considered throughout the game and this is something that Martin also touches upon. The viewer will be treated to a tour of excellent games, both old and new, many from the period 2012-2014, which highlight key ideas about the correct use of pawns and from which one cannot fail to improve one’s technique. Thus this DVD is ideal for players below 1800 or indeed ambitious players of any level.

In the second volume of the Chess Player's Mating Guide, the host pays particular attention to the castled king and in particular on ways of exploiting the weakened kingside. Several well-known themes, pawn formations and other attacking weapons are covered in 8 chapters with the goal to challenge the viewer determining and exploiting the weaknesses. IM Robert Ris has made an interesting selection of famous games as well as games from his own practice to demonstrate the typical ideas exploiting the weaknesses in the pawn formation in front of the castled king. The selected material is a good warm-up for the exercises which are presented at the end to test your knowledge on this topic. By then you at least will have the confidence to claim you have become a dangerous attacking player as Tal, Alekhine, Fischer or any of your other favorites. Watch, learn & enjoy!

Every chess player needs to know how to handle pawns. Pawns form the 'playing fields' of chess games, a semi-permanent structure that can determine whether a player wins or loses. This fully updated version of a timeless chess classic will give you the comprehensive knowledge to mastering pawn structures.

Aimed at club, congress and county players, this DVD provides a vital insight into how a grandmaster thinks and the reasoning behind his choice of moves. In this DVD, Danny provides useful guidance to players who are looking to improve their thinking during a game by analysing the typical strategic plans from the opening until late in the middlegame. Are you ready to go beyond the basics? If the answer is a resounding ‘yes’ then follow Danny as he explains the fundamental ideas and principles behind some of the most complex and challenging positions.

IM Lilov illustrates essential skills for superior play with grandmasters games. Lectures include:
The Power of the Piece Formation in the Center
The Power of the Piece Formation in the Center
The Power of Preparation
The Power of Preparation II
The Power of Centralization
The Power of Machine
The Power of Coordination
The Power of Coordination II
The Power of Coordination III
The Power of Center Control

Sarkhan Guliev presents a wide range of strategic manoeuvres that have been repeatedly employed by great chess players. He shows how masters generate ideas from the games of other masters: positional sacrifices, amazing counterplay concepts, unorthodox exchanges, winning with h2-h4, overcoming a blockade, the advantages of double pawns, the e5 pawn wedge, the uses of the queen-bishop battery, and much more.

In Positional Play Jacob Aagaard shares his simple three-step tool of positional analysis that he has used with club players and famous grandmasters to improve their positional decision-making. Working from the starting point that all players who aspire to play at international level have a certain amount of positional understanding, Aagaard lays out an easy-to-follow training plan that will improve everyone's intuition and positional decision-making.

If you want to improve your strategic play then it is important to study GM level strategic games with clear explanations. This was the inspiration for this Course from GM Damian Lemos, “Crushing Strategy”. Featuring 4 deeply analyzed games, GM Lemos reveals what the winners saw in the position that their opponent did not and the thinking process that allowed them to create a long-term strategy. It is this way of looking at the position and formulating a plan which will be of great help in taking the ambitious chess player’s game to the next level.

In this DVD Eugene stresses “It is the pawns that define our middle game, attacking potential and control of empty squares”. Gain his insight and strategically winning tips. Instructive tips about keeping the tension in a position, both in theory and in practice.

The Chess Player's Mating Guide - The King in the Centre - VOL. 1 - IM Robert Ris

Catalog Code: WIN0483CB

In this first volume of the new Mating Guide series, the emphasis will be on how to exploit a vulnerably placed king in the centre. With 10 chapters, 20 illustrative games and key themes including a lead in development, preventing castling, the open e-file and different kinds of sacrifices, this DVD will show you everything you need to know to master mid-board showdowns. The level of the content means it is relevant to both beginners as well as master level players - as both elementary examples (also from my own practice) as well as classical attacking games by elite grandmasters are analysed in detail.

Which pieces to keep and which to exchange is one of the most important questions in chess. This is true in the opening, the middlegame and the endgame. Less experienced players often think exchanging means to swap pieces of equal value and fail to take strategic factors into account. The "feeling" for the right exchange is something a chessplayer has to develop over time. This DVD wants to help to develop this "feeling“.

GM Jesse Kraai currently resides in Berkeley, California. His most notable chess achievements are winning the Denker Tournament of High School Champions in 1989 and 1990, and competing in the U.S. Championship from 2002-2006.

Defend Like a Super Grandmaster with Maxim Dlugy is an instructional DVD focusing on how to play in difficult and sometimes losing positions. Maxim Dlugy looks at some of the most important games in his career, outlining various techniques in saving bad positions or defending positions where your opponent has the initiative. All the key moments in the games are examined and after watching the video you are ready to save and even win bad positions.

Kalinin helps players seeking the master title by showing how concrete knowledge leads to improved decisions at the board. A master must understand the importance of aesthetics, knows how to curb the influence of the computer, accepts that the classical heritage is essential in his development, learns the importance of human interaction in reaching analytical mastery and grasps how to spot and fight his weaknesses.

Novice players and amateurs of intermediate strength will benefit from the explanations of ideas and tips for practical play, all presented in an easy, conversational style. More experienced competitors will appreciate this book as a game collection featuring masterpieces of enterprising play – some of them never before published.

In ''Thinking Outside of the Box'', Grandmaster Simon Williams explains how a viewer can improve their game by spotting unusual but very effective ideas. This includes strategic knight manoeuvres, clever bishop moves and other concepts that will be invaluable to any player wishing to improve their game.

A pair of bishops is decidedly superior to either a bishop and a knight, or two knights. A player possessing a pair of bishops has a strategic weapon in the form of a long-term threat to trade down to an advantageous endgame.

FOXY OPENINGS - VOL. 144 - Easy to Learn Step by Step Strategies On How to Think and Play Like A GrandMaster

Catalog Code: DVD0144FX

GM Gareev blasting through The 2012 North American Open scoring 8 out of 9 points and achieving a 2890 Fide performance rating!!
This DVD is a step by step guide to improve Your chess and reach your desired goals. GM Gareev will explain his thought process in tournament play, analysis and a lesson plan on concepts, tactics and strategies that will improve your game and give you a road map on thinking and playing like a GrandMaster.
Openings covered Queens Indian, Pirc, Grunfeld, Queens Gambit Accepted & Declined, Hedgehog, Exchange Ruy Lopez, Tactical Ideas in The Italian Game

This DVD shows us the secrets of chess strategy at the highest level through extensively-analyzed master games. Emphasizing the correct plans and ideas at every moment, it is a series for advanced players to complement their training with an aspect more difficult than tactics.

This course features about 400 exercises with large number of pieces in play. All exercises are taken from actual games. Find the only way to avoid checkmate! This course is for beginners and club players.